So, I determined it was time to replace the U-Joints on Missouri. The U-joints that came with Seydlitz were pefect for the job, so I went out in search of a matching pair this morning. Unfortunately, I got met with blank stares at my local RC Hobby shop (repleat with boats, planes, helicopters and cars - but a U-joint for a scratch-built boat.... unthinkable!), so I scoured the racks in search of suitable parts to make my own.
This afternoon Kyle and I made some rudders for Nassau. I decided to make nice looking airfoil shaped rudders out of brass. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. Its actually a fair bit easier to make the airfoil rudders than soldering up flat brass rudders. Here are the steps we took when making the rudders.
This is the first ship I have built since Diana gave me the lathe (don't I have a wonderful wife!?). Instead of using small bits of telescoping tubing I decided to make proper bushings for my propeller shaft assemblies. To make things a little more interesting I decided to make them tight enough for an interference fit so I would not need to glue or solder them.
This weekend I spent a lot of time determining what motors would fit where in Nassau. If possible I really want to only run the center propeller. The fast gunners have some experience with this hull shape and tell me that will result in the best maneuverability. Unfortunately only a little 280 motor will fit inline behind the aft turrret - and then only if I move the turret 0.5" out of scale. I doubt that the 280 by itself would be powerful enough so I made a motor mount that places the motor above the propeller shaft instead of inline with it.
This weekend I took some time and installed Nassau's stuffing tubes and rudder posts. The trick is to get everything installed with everything lined up. This is the second time I have used this technique and it works well. This post gives an overview of the techique I used and shows pictures of my progress.
After a recent facebook exchange with Greg McFadden I noticed his